Driveway

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Driveway to a farm Driveway 2.jpg
Driveway to a farm
Driveway apron and sloped curb to a public street, all under construction Driveway apron and sloped curb to street.jpg
Driveway apron and sloped curb to a public street, all under construction

A driveway (also called drive in UK English) [1] is a private road for local access to one or a small group of structures owned and maintained by an individual or group.

Driveways rarely have traffic lights, but some may if they handle heavy traffic, especially those leading to commercial businesses or parks.

Driveways may be designed and decorated in ways that public roads cannot because of their lighter traffic and the willingness of owners to invest in their construction. Driveways are not resurfaced, cleared of snow, or maintained by governments. They are generally designed to conform to the architecture, standards, and landscaping of connected houses or other buildings.

Some materials used for driveways include concrete, decorative brick, cobblestone, block paving, asphalt, gravel, resin-bound paving, and decomposed granite. These materials may be surrounded with grass or other ground-cover plants.

Driveways are commonly used as paths to private garages, carports, or houses. On large estates, a driveway may be the road that leads to the house from the public road, possibly with a gate in between. Some driveways may be designed to serve different homeowners. A driveway may also refer to a small apron of pavement in front of a garage with a curb cut in the sidewalk, sometimes too short to accommodate a car.

Often, either by choice or to conform with local regulations, cars are parked in driveways to leave streets clear for traffic. Moreover, some jurisdictions prohibit parking or leaving standing any motor vehicle upon any residential lawn area (the property from the front of a residential house, condominium, or cooperative to the street line other than a driveway, walkway, concrete, or blacktopped surface parking space). [2] Other examples include the city of Berkeley, California that forbids "any person to park or leave standing, or cause to be parked or left standing any vehicle upon any public street in the City for seventy-two or more consecutive hours." [3] Other areas may prohibit leaving vehicles on residential streets during certain times (for instance, to accommodate regular street cleaning), necessitating the use of driveways.

Residential driveways may serve as the place for conducting garage sales, automobile washing and repair, and recreation, notably (in North America) for basketball practice.

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidewalk</span> Pedestrian path along the side of a road

A sidewalk, pavement, footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a road. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone, or asphalt, it is designed for pedestrians. A sidewalk is normally higher than the roadway, and separated from it by a kerb. There may also be a planted strip between the sidewalk and the roadway and between the roadway and the adjacent land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street</span> Public thoroughfare in a built environment

A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as tarmac, concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parking</span> Act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and usually leaving it unoccupied

Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' users. Countries and local governments have rules for design and use of parking spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road surface</span> Road covered with durable surface material

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asphalt concrete</span> Composite material used for paving

Asphalt concrete is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking lots, airports, and the core of embankment dams. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the twentieth century. It consists of mineral aggregate bound together with bitumen, laid in layers, and compacted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parking lot</span> Cleared area for parking vehicles

A parking lot or car park, also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdictions where cars are the dominant mode of transportation, parking lots are a major feature of cities and suburban areas. Shopping malls, sports stadiums, and other similar venues often have immense parking lots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Permeable paving</span> Roads built with water-pervious materials

Permeable paving surfaces are made of either a porous material that enables stormwater to flow through it or nonporous blocks spaced so that water can flow between the gaps. Permeable paving can also include a variety of surfacing techniques for roads, parking lots, and pedestrian walkways. Permeable pavement surfaces may be composed of; pervious concrete, porous asphalt, paving stones, or interlocking pavers. Unlike traditional impervious paving materials such as concrete and asphalt, permeable paving systems allow stormwater to percolate and infiltrate through the pavement and into the aggregate layers and/or soil below. In addition to reducing surface runoff, permeable paving systems can trap suspended solids, thereby filtering pollutants from stormwater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parking space</span> Designated location for parking a vehicle

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A paver is a paving stone, tile, brick or brick-like piece of concrete commonly used as exterior flooring. In a factory, concrete pavers are made by pouring a mixture of concrete and some type of coloring agent into a mold of some shape and allowing to set. They are generally placed on top of a foundation which is made of layers of compacted stone and sand. The pavers are placed in the desired pattern and the space between pavers is then filled with a polymeric sand. No actual adhesive or retaining method is used other than the weight of the paver itself except edging. Pavers can be used to make roads, driveways, patios, walkways and other outdoor platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snow removal</span> Job of removing snow

Snow removal or snow clearing is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer. This is done both by individual households and by governments, institutions, and commercial businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multistorey car park</span> Building designed for car parking

A multistorey car park or parking garage, also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade, parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed for car, motorcycle, and bicycle parking in which parking takes place on more than one floor or level. The first known multistorey facility was built in London in 1901, and the first underground parking was built in Barcelona in 1904. The term multistorey is almost never used in the US, because almost all parking structures have multiple parking levels. Parking structures may be heated if they are enclosed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road surface marking</span> Any kind of device or material used on a road surface to convey official information

Road surface marking is any kind of device or material that is used on a road surface in order to convey official information; they are commonly placed with road marking machines. They can also be applied in other facilities used by vehicles to mark parking spaces or designate areas for other uses. In some countries and areas, road markings are conceived as horizontal traffic signs, as opposed to vertical traffic signs placed on posts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curb</span> Edge where a sidewalk meets a road

A curb, or kerb, is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road signs in Sweden</span> Overview of road signs in Sweden

Road signs in Sweden are regulated in Vägmärkesförordningen, VMF (2007:90), and are to be placed 2 metres from the road with the sign 1.6 m from the base for motorized roads. Except for route numbers, there are a maximum of three signs on a pole, with the most important sign at the top. All signs have a reflective layer added on selected parts of the sign as is custom in European countries; most larger signs also have their own illumination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parking violation</span> Offence caused while a vehicle is parked

A parking violation is the act of parking a motor vehicle in a restricted place or in an unauthorized manner. It is against the law virtually everywhere to park a vehicle in the middle of a highway or road; parking on one or both sides of a road, however, is commonly permitted. However, restrictions apply to such parking, and may result in an offense being committed. Such offenses are usually cited by a police officer or other government official in the form of a traffic ticket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paver (vehicle)</span> Construction equipment used to lay asphalt

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land lot</span> Tract or parcel of land that is owned

In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries. Possible owners of a plot can be one or more persons or another legal entity, such as a company, corporation, organization, government, or trust. A common form of ownership of a plot is called fee simple in some countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road signs in the United States</span> Road and traffic signs utilized in the United States

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Yellow lines are road markings used in various territories.

References

  1. "Drive". oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  2. "Chapter 71A Vehicles, Parking Restrictions in Residential Areas" (PDF). Township of Barnegat, NJ. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  3. "Parking Enforcement & Restrictions". Transportation Division, City of Berkeley, CA. Retrieved 26 January 2015.